Mode of making clasps for hoop-skirts



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN H.DOOLITTLE, 0F ANSONIA, CONNECTICUT.

MODE OF MAKING CLASPS FOR HOOP-SKIRTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 50,102, dated September 96, 1865y To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, J H. DooLrrrLE, of Ansonia, of the county of New Haven, in the State of Connecticn t, have invented a new Method of Making Clasps from Sheet Metal for Hoop-Skirts, Src.; an d I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this a-pplication.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in the method of making metallic clasps for hoop-skirts and other purposes, and has for its objects to manufacture such clasps more rapidly and with less waste stock than they have been heretofore made and to these ends myinvention consists in cutting from a strip of material (from which the clasps are made) a continuous strip of blanks,which passes on through suitable dies, by which the blanks are separated, formed up complete., and discharged, while at the same time the strip of scrap is discharged from the clasp-forming mechanism and the remaining stock is reeled for reuse, as hereinafter more fully explained; and my invention further consists in forming the continuous strip or the series of united blanks in such manner that they may be separated and formed up without the makin got' any scrap in said operation of separating and forming up, as will be hereinafter more fully explained.

To enable those skilled iu the art to fully comprehend my invention and use it, I will proceed to describe the mode in which I have most successfully practiced it, referring by letters and figures to the accompanying drawings,forming part of this application, and illustratin g the machinery by whichI have worked my said invention.

In the drawings, Figure l is a front elevation of an improved machine for making clasps upon my new method. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section at y y, Fig. Fig. 4 is a vert-ical section at z z, Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a vertical section at new, Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view, showing particularly the device for effecting the perfect working of the rotary dies driven l by gearing. Fig. 7 is a detail sectional view at the line & St, Fig. 2, increased scale. Fig.8 is a top view of one of the lower dies shown at Fig. 7, together with the sustaining-plate for causing the stock from which the blanks are cut to properly leave the die. Fig. 9 is a detail perspective of the sustaining-plate. Fig. l0 is a plan of the continuous strip of blanks. Fig. 1l is a perspective view of a clasp formed of one of the blanks seen at Fig. 10; and Fig. 12 is a plan ofthe strip of material from which the clasps are'manufactured, illustrating the mode ofcutting the strip of blanks from a strip of stock, as will be presently fully explained.

In the drawings I have fully shown not only the method of working up the stock, but also, in detail, the machinery employed; but many parts of said machinery have no direct connection with the invention sought to be covered in this applica-tion. They will therefore not be particularly described here, but will be found more minutely explained in another application led simultaneously with this, in which I claim. the improvements in the said machinery.

I will in this specification explain briefly the construction and operation of the machine illustrated in the drawings as carrying out the invention herein claimed.

A is the bed-plate; B, the supporting-frame or legs of the machine. A short distance above the bed-plate A, and supported by it, is arranged a work-table, J,which is supported by four colunms,T, and on which are arranged an adjustable stop and guide plate, Z, and a retaining spring-pressure roll, m, for guiding and retaining the strip of metal which may be fed into the mechanism for forming the clasps.

H and I are two stands, in which are mounted,in suitable bearings, four shafts, 7 8 9 10, carrying on their front outer ends four rotating circular dies or die-rolls, a b o d, between the faces of which the metallic sheet is fed, as will be presently explained. The shafts 7 and 8 are geared together in the manner illustrated at Fig. 6, and the shafts 9 and l0 are geared together in like manner, and the two lower shafts, 8 and l0, are driven through the medium of gears Q R on their back ends meshing into the driving-pinion P on the main driving-shaft C, said shaft C being provided with a fast and loose pulley, D andE, on which the driving-belt runs.

The pulley F is for the purpose of drivinga hanger-pulley, from which a belt extends down to the pulley G of the rcel-shaft Z. This reelshaft is mounted in suitable bearings in the sleeve M, which is sustained by two columns, K K, from the work-table J, and carries a reel,

L, on which the strip of stock passed through the rotarydies is wound.

In Figs. l and 2 I have illustrated the strip of metal from which the clasps are foi med, and the operation of dividing or cutting it up, by red lines, the line numbered l representing the portion of stock formed into blanks for making the clasps, that numbered (two) 2 the remaining stock, which is rewound on reel L, and that numbered 3 the strip of scrap, which is discharged from the machine at the e1 dopposite to that where the iinished clasps are discharged.

The driving-shaft G is hung in bearings in a curved slot, a2, (two slots, one on each side vot' the bed A,)and a connecting-link, O, in

such manner that the stand I may be moved toward or from the stand H by means ot' its adjusting-screws e and f, while at the same time the pinion P will remain always in gearv with the gears l? and Q, whoseshafts are hung separately in the two stands thus moved t0- ward and from each other.

The stopping and starting ot' theniachine are eli'ected, at the pleasure of thc operator, by an ordinary shipper for shifting the driving-belt from pulley D to E, and vice versa. The bar of this shipper is partially shown in the drawings (at Figs. l and 2) at b3, and its handle at n. The stand H is adj ustablc crosswisefot' the bed A, for the purpose setting the two sets ot' y dies c b and c d in line in the direction of the e ofthe stock through them.

The object of the adjustment ofthe stand I from and toward H, as just before explained, is to vary the distance between the two sets of dies a. I) and c d for different lengths of clasps-different kind of work.

y is a bridge or conductor, through which the strip of blanks passes from the iirst set of dies to the next. l

It is acurved conduit or chute, through which the strip ot" scrap passes off from the first set of dies.

N is areel, which may be located at any convenient distance from the machine in any proper manner, and from which the stri) of stock is fed to the machine for-making the clasps.

The general operation of the machine will be understood from a few words ofexplanation. The reelNbeing piled with acontiuuous strip of sheet metal ofany desired width and lengthsayten to twenty feetlong and sixinches widethc operator, hayingproperly adjusted the machine for the kind ot' work to be done, passes the strip along on the table J with one edge against the face ofthe adjustable stop or guidebar l, (see Fig. 2,) the other edge receiving a pressure from the grooved wheel m, to keep it against the said bar l, and enters the end of the said strip of stock between the first set, a b, of dies and sets the machine in motion. As the strip of stock is drawn through the diese I) it is divided into three parts, as illustrated at Fig. 12 by the portions colored blue and red and that left white, the red portion or part 3 being the scrap, which is detlected from the die c and discharged through chute It, (see Fig. 1,) the part 2 being carried up outside of the chute It, and between it and the deflector a3, to the reel L, (see Fig.1,) and the central portion, 1, (which is the strip of blanks,) passing through the conductor 1 and thence through the dies c d, by Whichlatter dies said strip of blanks-is cut up at the points through which the red lines pass at Fig. 10, and formed up into clasps such as shown at Fig. 1l. The operation of the dies on the strip of stock is clearly illustrated at Figs. 7, 1 and 2. After the whole length of the strip of stock has been passed through the machine,the surplus stock having been Wound on the rcel L, the strip of stock on reel L is removed to reel N and the end again fed into the machine, when the dies go through a repetition of the operation just described. cutting ofi' another strip ol' blanks and forming them into clasps, discharging another strip of scrap,

and rewindiug the surplus stock on reel L; and so ou, the operation is repeated until the whole ofthe stock; has been made into clasps.

It will be seen that by the mode of operation described the manufacture of clasps and other similar articles (the dies, Sto., being made readily to suit various-shaped articles) from sheet stock by rotary dies is rendered very rapid and economical; and it will also be observed that the strip of blanks (see Fig. 10) is such (the blanks being connected at their ends) that when simply separated or out apart on aline they are in condition to constitute a perfect clasp (such as shown at Fi g. 11) without any scrap or waste of the strip of blanks; and it will be understood that this peculiar feature ot' my invention may be employed in forming a strip of blanks to' make other shaped clasps than that shown.

It will be understood that the invention described and claimed in this applicationis independent of the peculiar machine described, and rests in the mode of operation of manufacturing` the clasps from-a strip' of stock, though the machine I have shown and described I am now successfully working, and it turns out twentytwo hundred and fifty clasps per minute.

Having fully explained the nature ot' my inl vention and the mode ofcarrying out the same,

which I have successfully practiced, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Forming the clasps orothersimilar articles by means of asuccession of sets of rotary dies, when the strip of stock fed to the dies is divided into several parts, in the manner substantially as hereinbet'ore described.

2. Forming blanks of sheet metal by one set of rotary dies and close together, substantially as described, so that in their subsequent separation and forming up no stock is wasted.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal.-

JOHN H. DOOLITTLE. [L.s.]

In presence of- M. DE LACY, Taos. WALLACE, Jr. 

